Classics Club Spin #37

Perhaps it is ill-advised for me to participate in this spin, as I have several lengthy books on the go and several absorbing life changes on the go as well. On the bright side, I filed my taxes today so maybe I'm not as behind in life as I feel I am. We take the…

“the one charge you cannot deny”

160 years ago this week, Richard Harding Davis was born. He became an American war correspondent for over three significant wars in his lifetime, also writing short stories and championing Theodore Roosevelt's campaign for the United States presidency. I stumbled upon his work accidentally, finding a copy of Once Upon a Time in a thrift…

“rode madly off in all directions”

On this day, March 28, in 1944, Stephen Leacock, humorist and professor of Political Economics at McGill, died. One day last summer, I was possessed of the need to determine where the phrase “he rode off in all directions” originated. A quick Google search introduced me to Stephen Leacock, writer and economist of the last…

5 Irish Fiction Recommendations for St. Patrick’s Day

I guess a St. Patrick's Day post is a tradition now. Anyway, this is the fourth year in a row for me, which is probably the longest I've ever stuck with anything in my life. I've done a post about green books, books with "green" in the titles, and Irish mythology books, so now I…

“being what he was”

136 years ago this week, author Louisa May Alcott died. Born November 29, 1832, Alcott wrote the beloved Little Women, sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys, as well as numerous other novels and short stories. Among these, a dramatic Faustian tale titled A Modern Mephistopheles, which was her inspiration for another book with similar themes,…

One-Shot Finch: To Kill a Mockingbird

A well-known novel of the American south, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a challenging look at the history of race-relations and the process of a child coming to terms with another side of her familiar, safe community of Maycomb. Scout, her older brother Jem, and their friend Dill play around at constructing a…

The Soul of the Plot: Our Mutual Friend

...a mysterious history is put forth by the lawyer Lightwood about the Harmon family and its fortune... No sooner has the tale been told than Lightwood is called upon to attend a body... identified as the long lost heir to that very same family's fortune.

The Quintessential Dark Academia? A Review

Donna Tartt [has an] incredibly beautiful, smooth, flowing writing style that simply sings to your senses as you read along. So much so, it disguises the fact that there is actually very little happening in the plot, character beats, or anything else besides.

Classics Club Spin #36

In my absence from the blog for the better part of three months, I missed the last Classics Club Spin (#35) and don't want to let another one go by without participating. I have worked through a few titles on my list in the meantime and their reviews are on the docket... if I can…

Quoth Vincent Price for evermore

It was mid-August. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary," I was browsing through the eclectic offerings of a free movie streaming service. "Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..." The classic movie listings presented a familiar title to my eyes. "As of some one gently rapping, rapping…